The development of science has been a distinctive feature of human
history in recent times, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In light of the problems that define the philosophy of science today, James
Fetzer provides a foundation for inquiry into the nature of science, the
history of science, and the relationship between the two.

In Philosophy of Science, Fetzer investigates the aim and methods
of empirical science and examines the importance of methodological commitments
to the study of science and the significance of interpretations of probability
for understanding laws of nature and scientific explanations. This book
offers a welcome framework for investigating the most recent work and the
most promising solutions to the central problems that arise within this
discipline. The result is a timely introduction to an increasingly important
field.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Clear, accessible, and comprehensive

Written by a major contributor to the field

Broad scope of coverage with concise discussion

Historical examples skillfully woven into the text

Companion anthology organized to correspond to the text

TABLE OF CONTENTSPreface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. What is ScienceThe History and Philosophy of Science • File Aim of Science • The Nature
of Explications • The Analysis of Language • The Analytic and the Synthetic

Chapter 5. Probability and InferenceThe Symmetry Thesis • Chance and Games of Chance • Determinism and
Indeterminism • Frequencies, Propensities, and Personal Probabilities •
Probability as a Guide in Life

Chapter 6. The Problem of InductionValidation, Vindication, and Exoneration • Rationality, Morality, and
Decision • Frequencies and More Frequencies • The Justification of Induction
• The Fundamental Question about Chance

Chapter 7. The Growth of Scientific KnowledgeConjectures and Refutations • Normal Science vs. Revolutionary Science
• The Methodology of Research Programs • Inference to the Best Explanation
• Discovery, Inference, and Unification

An Overview
For Further Reading
References
Index of Names
Index of Subjects

JAMES H. FETZER is professor and chairman of the department of
philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. In addition to publishing
more than seventy articles and reviews, he is the author of Philosophy
and Cognitive Science, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (1996),
the editor of Foundations of Philosophy of Science: Recent Developments
(1993), and coauthor of The Paragon Glossary in Cognitive Science
(with Charles Dunlop), and The Paragon Glossary in Epistemology/Philosophy
of Science (with Robert Almeder), all published by Paragon House.